You had one shot at this
by gueststar123
Summary: A tragic Animorph fanfiction set in a parallel and futuristic Earth. Warning: Gore near the ending.


**Heyo, gueststar123 here! How's everyone doing? Hope you enjoy my story!**

**Extra warning: All characters here are fan made and have no names. If you're confused on who is who, PM me.**

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The story starts with a group of small human children, exactly three of them. They were spying on a building guarded by the Hork-Bajir. These aliens are a seven feet tall menace with dark-green skin and razors all over the body. One would find it hard to believe that they were simply peaceful creatures that ate bark before the Yeerks came and took over their race. The parasitic look-alike slug had the ability to slip into a living creature's brain and have total control of its body. They even adapted their laser guns to fit these creatures hand, making them even more dangerous.

Focusing on the trio, the only boy of the group nodded to his teammates. He had dirty blonde, mop hair and freckles. The girl next to him, with blue eyes and black hair tied into two ponytails, nodded back at him.

These two went under a transformation. They grew smaller, their eyes bulged and took over half of their faces, think, black hairs sprouted all over their bodies, and they grew two legs, one on each side, right under the ribs. Having the ability to morph into an animal was certainly a power to awe at and it is relatively painless. However, seeing it in action was never a pretty sight and it took a real professional to even morph elegantly into a fly.

The last element of this group was, of course, another girl. She had reddish-brown hair which it seems that she effortlessly combed to keep it organize. She watched with her brown eyes her companions-who-were-now-flies fly off into the guarded building. Her eyes darted back and forth while she lay down on the ground, almost holding her breath. She bit her lip and took a quick glance at the watch (tightly strapped to her wrist).

To morph, you have to have physical contact with the animal to acquire its DNA. It also has a time limit. If you stuck to one form for more than two hours, you stay like that forever.

The girl tried to relax by giving a deep breath. The mission they had chosen was simple. Fly into a hideout; get all the juicy gossip from inside and return to base with the information. It would probably take an hour at most to complete it. But you can never know when the world wants you to have an unexpected surprise.

Sentry duty had its vicissitudes, and one can agree that waiting is the worst part of it. Time just seemed to go on a slower pace than a snail traveling. Not to mention the dreadful feeling that you get of worrying that then enemy can find you. Thank goodness, this mission didn't involve encounters with Taxxons. Those giant centipedes can eat anything in their path and nobody wanted to mess with them.

At last, after a cold and painful fifty minutes of waiting, the two came out. They zoomed back to the hiding spot and transformed into humans again (which continued to be a disgusting sight). Both of them seemed agitated. The boy said "Go!" so suddenly and loud that the girls morphed a millisecond later. Unfortunately, this attracted attention from a nearby alien guard. As the Hork-Bajir sounded out the alarm, the three kids were already running as if their feet were on fire. Or rather, hooves.

The duo which seconds before were flies, turned into chestnut-colored horses. The reddish-brown hair girl transformed into a doe. They all ran into a forest and when they thought they were deep enough within, they went their separate ways.

Meanwhile, back at the entrance of the forest, a large group of razor-sharp aliens were scouting for the intruders. Only one of them was fast enough to pursue them at first sight. Following that line of thought, that said Hork-Bajir was chasing after the doe, jumping from tree to tree like Tarzan on steroids. The doe concentrated on escaping and jumped gracefully over the forest floor. It continued like this for what seems to be forever until they came upon a large clearing. The Hork-Bajir was forced to continue the hunt on foot.

The poor mammal felt her energy sap away and began to slow down. Brimming with confidence that the animal had no chance, the alien leapt and went in for the kill.

When she thought she was done for, all of the sudden a bull charged in and rammed against the Hork-Bajir. It hurtled unto to the dirt and a few seconds later, a goat attacked the alien too.

Grasping this golden opportunity, the doe (using every bit of energy she had left) fled with her heart racing. She ran until she came upon an abandoned barn house. She went inside, found her two teammates, and morphed back to human form. Her friends were greatly relieved and assisted their teammate while asking her some questions. The mop haired boy was about to ask another one when he cut himself in the middle of the sentence and looked tense.

At the entrance of the barn was the bull and the goat. The reddish-brown hair girl gasped in surprise when she recognized them. As if the gasp was the signal, the animals began to change. The goat turned into a short boy whose hair was badly dyed green. The bull transformed into a rather tall boy with shaggy black hair.

Immediately, the pony-tailed girl and the mop haired boy attacked them verbally. The short one snapped and asked them to be quiet. He enthusiastically began to relate how he and the tall one saved the doe girl a doomed fate from a Hork-Bajir. The reddish-brown hair confirmed their story.

Then the tall boy stepped forward and spread out his hands. He offered a proposition: let the teams join to reach a common goal, stopping the Yeerks. The trio listened and huddled together to discuss the matter. While two of them seemed skeptical, the one who was rescued argued and pointed out the benefits of a five-person team. They discussed more in hushed tones before the group broke up. The mop hair boy stepped forward and offered his hand. The tall one smiled, said that they had made the correct decision.

It turned out that the tall one had natural leadership qualities. Everyone in his team had some sort of respect for him. Even mop-haired, who was the former leader, although he was the last to admit that. However, one person didn't feel just respect.

Many months later, the time had come – the final battle between the human race and the Yeerks. One side wanted peace on Earth and the other wanted destruction.

In a large field, two ships and seven people stood. Two of them were pilots and the rest were the characters mentioned earlier, older and a bit more mature. This team and others, located on various parts of Earth, were preparing an attack on the Blade Ship, mother ship of the Yeerks. The reddish-brown hair girl (who at that moment had it tied up to a braid) and the mop-hair boy were going on one ship and the rest went on the other.

The girl ushered the one who was about to pilot their ship to come closer. She took a paper, crinkled and full of small tears. She passed this note to the pilot's hand. The girl whispered to him to give the piece of paper to their leader after the war was over. She added that the pilot should request a meeting with her before handing the note. The pilot looked confused but accepted the task.

Finally, it was time to leave. Each team boarded their own vehicle and during the whole trip, there was tense silence. The ships had their cloaking devices on, so they could approach without being spotted. However, as soon as they boarded the Blade Ship, sirens sounded out.

The girl morphed into a cheetah and the boy turned into a wolf. They prowled the long, metallic hallways, always on the lookout. When they saw the enemy troops up ahead, the bloodbath began. The duo charged themselves against the enemy. A couple of shots from the Dracon beams blasted in their direction but that didn't stop them. They let their animal instincts kick in as they pounced and tore limbs apart.

When all of the troops have fallen, the duo morphed back to their human forms. They were done with this sector and the time has come to join the other teams. The duo held their breaths to get away from the stench of death.

All of the sudden, they heard something like a pin dropping on the ground.

They turned around.

Something pierced through the girl's stomach. She froze in shock and the girl stopped breathing. She screamed in agony when the piercing thing rotated. She could feel her guts being slowly pulled away from her body. When it was withdrawn, the girl was pushed to the floor. She wrapped her arms around her stomach, a useless attempt to cover the large hole. Everywhere around her turned crimson red. Her ears pounded and her eyes saw a looming figure.

It was the Hork-Bajir. The one that attempted to kill her on the first and every encounter. Each time the alien attacked her team; he would fail and swore revenge while he retreated. At this very moment, he had a malicious grin. He reached for her but was tackled by a furry blur.

She crawled away, dragging herself with one arm. She stopped shortly and coughed out blood. The girl began to breathe rapidly, gasping for air. The pain was excruciating.  
It's possible to heal when you morph. However, the girl has spent a lot of energy from the last fight and she lost too much blood already. If she did start morphing at that point, she would be stuck halfway. She had no plan on dying as a monster.

A large mass of body landed near her, scaring her out of her limits. It was wolf and it wasn't moving. In complete desperation, she cried out and reached out for him. Even if it did come pouring down, the saltiness of the tears could not overcome the metallic taste of the blood.

The red liquid got stuck in her throat. She tried to cough it out. Her body shook and the girl started to feel faint. Her vision darkened, she felt numb and she grew deaf at each passing moment. Finally, after the long insanely torture, both of her breathing and her heartbeat stopped.

She was dead.

…

The humans turned out to be the victors. Nevertheless, everyone knew that every battle had its price.

A week later after the battle, there was a funeral for the fallen. The body count was estimated to be around twenty. Twenty dead children lost at the hand of war.

Time went by slowly once again at a snail's pace. One by one, the attendants left. Each had said their goodbyes and passed on in life. Hours and hours later, only one remained.

It was the tall boy, the leader of the team. He stared at the tombstone of his two fallen comrades. Maybe if he hadn't made his team split, they would still be alive. He could have afforded the necessary backup. But he was stubborn enough to believe that everything could turn out to be okay. They were dead because of him.  
The boy took out a piece of paper from his pocket. It was stained but the words were still eligible enough to read. Three simple words.

"I love you." the boy said these words out loud. He suddenly fell to his knees and placed his hand on one of the tombstones. He kissed the cold stone and pressed his forehead against it. He concealed his face behind his arms.

"Will you marry me?" he whispered futile words. He repeated these words over and over again. He shook violently and tears streamed down his face. His short friend had to come and pry his friend off the stone to drag him back home.

It was entirely his fault.


End file.
